N Wednesday, December 30, 2009
back from europe. went to the mediterranean area, saw lots of beautiful rock formations near the coast, a lot of picture-perfect views. apparently in summer, the beaches are full of people, you see more of bodies than sand. but in winter, the beach is almost undisturbed except by the waves.
they constructed a long flight of steps all the way from the top to the base, near the formations where you could get upclose to the cave-like formations and the angry waves. it's amazing; sometimes the beach is so calm and you just hear the waves lapping onto the beach. but at certain places, the waves just rush and furiously crash into the rocks, and the water splashes up so high, you get a little alarmed because you're so close to it.
visited 'the end of the world'. aptly named, everything looks so vast. there are few houses in sight on the way there and practically none at all when you are there, save for the lighthouse. there are many sharp cliffs which plunge down who knows how many metres - just a straight drop. you wouldn't want to take a step in the wrong direction at the edge of the cliff - because all the way down there, the water is pounding away at the base - so violent and uncontrolled. but it's really beautiful.
went to gibraltar to see 'the rock'. i know that doesnt sound impressive at all, but that name is somewhat misleading. the rock is actually like a mountain - it's a long way up to the top. up there, the wind is icy cold and strong - very strong. many birds up there, just flying around near the top of the 'rock' and the sea beside it. the birds there are pretty helpless because of the wind. you see them flapping their wings, trying to head in a certain direction but the wind brings them in the opposite direction.
there was one particular bird that was like some jet plane. the wind would push it really quickly, and it'd just zoom past you. then it decided to change direction, so up it goes, and the wind pushes it again so it zooms past again. that happened several times in a shape similar to the infinity sign.
and the most amazing thing: i got bitten by a mosquito on that mountain. rock. whatever you call it.
oh yeah! and gibraltar has so many apes which just randomly walk around and eat. they jumped and perched themselves onto several cars, sat in the middle of the road, or sat on the rail watching people. several of them formed a chain and sat on the rooftop picking out ticks for each other.
london was a fair bit colder - usual temperature was about 3 or 4 degrees. flew in there on christmas, when there was no public transport at all. the tube station was closed, roads were pretty empty, shops were closed.
then the next day (boxing day), there's loads of sales everywhere. literally everywhere. the stores are jam-packed with people (ren shan ren hai x 10^6). went to harrods, and i tell you, it was so congested, you can hardly move without knocking into someone. people are grabbing shoes off racks, trying on sunglasses, hairclips, etc.
along the shopping area, practically every store has a sale, and you keep seeing the same signs. the most popular one was 'SALE' (usually in lights or glittery letters), followed by 'up to 50% discount' and '1/2 price'.
watched 'an inspector calls' and 'woman in black'. 'an inspector calls' was pretty interesting - it won 19 awards (like, wow). 'woman in black' is some kind of horror show, not the gory kind, but the kind that gives you a heart attack every time you hear this shrill scream come out from all around you unexpectedly. i was gripping my brother's arm because he was unfortunate enough to be sitting beside me.
miss the cold already, but it's good to be back home (:
not good to be back to work though. oh yes, you're probably wondering if i did my ee. well, no i didnt, because my mum told me at the last minute not to bring my comp. so all i did that was work-related was reading miss julie and hedda gabler. and if you count one thinking session i had for ee.
can't believe a new year is starting so soon - i just don't want another year with wasted opportunities and screwedupness other people don't really see. no more wasted opportunities. no more wasted time. it may not seem so to others, but i have an incredibly huge backlog.
looking back on this year... what can i say? there was the good, and there was the bad. and i really can't stand the bad - because i know it was my fault. bad attitude, wasted oppportunities, and ultimately: screwed up.
have yet to decide on a world lit topic (adfalskdmf),
need to complete ee report for ssef by monday because they pushed deadline forward from friday (aoind;oiamer;ofiamweo;ifm)
do something about the crappy tok draft i did (alwdmfa;oiwmea;oienaoimea;oc)
ajeofiamoe;imcao;iema;oeimcao;emaocim;om;omawo;eimaome
spamspamspam.
` love, 10:21 AM
